Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 093-0413
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Public Act 093-0413


 

Public Act 93-0413 of the 93rd General Assembly


Public Act 93-0413

HB2526 Enrolled                      LRB093 10351 RLC 10605 b

    AN ACT concerning criminal law.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.  The  Code  of  Criminal Procedure of 1963 is
amended by changing Section 115-10.2 as follows:

    (725 ILCS 5/115-10.2)
    Sec. 115-10.2.  Admissibility of  prior  statements  when
witness refused to testify despite a court order to testify.
    (a)  A  statement  not  specifically covered by any other
hearsay  exception  but  having   equivalent   circumstantial
guarantees of trustworthiness, is not excluded by the hearsay
rule if the declarant is unavailable as defined in subsection
(c) and if the court determines that:
         (1)  the  statement  is  offered  as  evidence  of a
    material fact; and
         (2)  the statement is more probative  on  the  point
    for which it is offered than any other evidence which the
    proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and
         (3)  the  general  purposes  of this Section and the
    interests of justice will best be served by admission  of
    the statement into evidence.
    (b)  A statement may not be admitted under this exception
unless  the  proponent of it makes known to the adverse party
sufficiently in advance of the trial or  hearing  to  provide
the  adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet
it, the proponent's intention to offer the statement, and the
particulars of the statement, including the name and  address
of the declarant.
    (c)  Unavailability  as  a witness includes circumstances
in which the declarant:
         (1)  is exempted by  ruling  of  the  court  on  the
    ground   of  privilege  from  testifying  concerning  the
    subject matter of the declarant's statement; or
         (2)  persists in refusing to testify concerning  the
    subject  matter  of  the declarant's statement despite an
    order of the court to do so; or
         (3)  testifies to a lack of memory  of  the  subject
    matter of the declarant's statement; or
         (4)  is  unable  to  be present or to testify at the
    hearing because of health or then  existing  physical  or
    mental illness or infirmity; or
         (5)  is absent from the hearing and the proponent of
    the  statement has been unable to procure the declarant's
    attendance by process or other reasonable means; or
         (6)  is a crime victim as defined in  Section  3  of
    the  Rights  of  Crime  Victims and Witnesses Act and the
    failure of the declarant to  testify  is  caused  by  the
    defendant's  intimidation  of the declarant as defined in
    Section 12-6 of the Criminal Code of 1961. Unavailability
    as a witness is limited to the  situation  in  which  the
    declarant  persists in refusing to testify concerning the
    subject matter of the declarant's  statement  despite  an
    order of the court to do so.
    (d)  A  declarant  is  not  unavailable  as  a witness if
exemption, refusal, claim or lack  of  memory,  inability  or
absence  is  due  to  the  procurement  or  wrongdoing of the
proponent of  a  statement  for  purpose  of  preventing  the
witness from attending or testifying.
    (e)  Nothing   in  this  Section  shall  render  a  prior
statement inadmissible for purposes  of  impeachment  because
the statement was not recorded or otherwise fails to meet the
criteria set forth in this Section.
(Source: P.A. 89-689, eff. 12-31-96.)

    Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 08/05/03